According to a news report on this site yesterday the madness on the M40 started a year ago on the 31st May 2007 when three people were killed and 11 injured in a three vehicle pile up. Since then on the same stretch of motorway a total of 75 accidents requiring fire brigade attention have taken place claiming six more lives.

On the rare occasions that I drive the stretch of motorway the driving standards of the other motorists leave a lot to be desired. With cars whizzing by over the speed limit and lorries making mad overtaking manoeuvres its no surprise to me that so many accidents have happened.

So what has been done to make the road safer? Well, it appears nothing. The last time I drove that stretch of motorway there weren’t even any warning boards to indicate that there have been a spate of accidents on the stretch of road. Surely it can’t be a coincidence that so many accidents occurred in such a short stretch of time? There must be some common factor involved.

Has anyone come to any conclusion as to what could be causing the accidents? Is it driver fatigue? Is it speed? Are the vehicles travelling too close together? From what I could read in the news article it appears that “the number of fatalities in the road over the last 12 months did not reflect the safety record of the road as a whole”. So basically the statisticians are drowning out the increase in accidents in the South Bucks section.

Did those people lose their lives in vain? How many more will die before anything is done? Who knows? One thing is for sure, you won’t find me driving on that stretch of motorway if I can help it. It’s just too dangerous.